


drunk (in love)

by mvpchani



Category: Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bar/Pub, Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-16
Updated: 2018-01-16
Packaged: 2019-03-05 16:43:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13391970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mvpchani/pseuds/mvpchani
Summary: Seongwoo finds the colorful and shining map of the galaxy in another person's voice, eyes and heart.





	drunk (in love)

It’s another busy night.

Amidst the kaleidoscope of neon colors, which illuminates the grungy bar, masses of people either are scattered across the seating areas or lounging at the bar counter, while some prefer to spend their time playing dart or billard. The thirst for strong liquor that is displayed in its representative bottles is as present as ever; today’s Friday night, arguably the highlight for the bar due to its open mic on the designated day of the week.

On top of the entertainment, there’s always a special deal, this time around _Happy Cocktail Hours_ and Seongwoo’s fingers already want to fall off from the various drinks he’s been mixing. His mind is working on full speed, remembering order after order; beads of sweats have long started to form on his forehead from the concentration he’s putting into work, being intensified from the humidity behind the counter, and his white dress shirt is sticking to his body, showing off his lithe waist and slightly toned chest.

Some of the females sitting on the bar stools give Seongwoo coy smiles, one woman of the group letting her long eyelashes flutter against her skin as she pushes her hair back in a measured shy but flirty way, and more so trails her long and slender fingers over Seongwoo’s exposed wrist once he hands her over the ordered cocktail. Being used to the flirtatious touches, the raven-haired man barely flinches at the cold contact and flashes a charismatic smile at her, but pulls back nonetheless to tend to the next customer in line. After such incidents, Seongwoo views the overload of work and impatience of bar goers as a welcomed breather, letting him escape any uncomfortable situations. He knows it’s part of his job to be social and entertain the people, but even after some weeks of working at the bar, Seongwoo has never shed off his invisible protective bubble of personal space; all it has brought him is the ability to cut back on his quietly seething anxiety for a higher amount of tips.

The more time passes, less people crowd the counter and instead occupy the seats close to the stage. It’s a sign that the open mic session starts, which gathers most of the attention. From aspiring singers to amateur stand-up comedians, the variety is widespread and the bar’s management changes up the set list each week by giving every interested person a chance.

For Seongwoo, it’s merely a form of distraction of his stressful but monotonous work. Sometimes, he wishes that there would be a form of audition first -- don’t get him wrong, he isn’t against letting undiscovered talent bloom, but a few performers here and there don’t have a clue about their handiwork. As a student of the drama department, who takes singing classes at the side and is part of a dance team, Seongwoo has a trained ear for fine arts; drunk slurring on stage may be amusing those who have raised their alcoholic percentage in their blood, but Seongwoo feels rather annoyed in his sober and tired state.

“Could I have a glass of water?” A voice so softened out at its edges, filled with warmth and sounding in a pleasing tenor, tears Seongwoo out of his thoughts, who looks up at a tall young man fidgeting in his spot against the counter. Nodding at the order, Seongwoo quickly pours still mineral water into a clean glass, sliding it across the wooden surface into the customer’s open hand. With one big gulp, half of the liquid is already gone, indicating that the man is either thirsty as hell, or in quite the hurry.

“You know what, that order is on the house.” Normally, Seongwoo doesn’t give out free drinks, but the stranger hasn’t bugged him about it and looked so distressed frisking his long blazer coat for his wallet that Seongwoo could be generous for once. Judging on the small smile he’s receiving from the other man, Seongwoo knows he has improved the stranger’s evening, and it does appease his own sudden damp mood.

By the time the bartender starts to mix a few more drinks for those thirsty for the cheaper alcoholic beverages, the tall stranger is already gone and dispersing in the crowd with no trace left of any name. _Oh well_. Seongwoo wouldn’t have minded to hit it up with stranger boy once time allowed it; better luck next time, hopefully, maybe.

Instead of wallowing in self-pity over his missed chance, Seongwoo busies himself with cleaning the counter off sticky stains from carelessly spilled drinks as the lights dim out for a moment; spotlight directed to the stage at the back of the bar now illuminated in fluorescent, even the music stills out and only the hushed out chatter and awkward coughing from the residents in the bar can be heard.

While they’re waiting for the first performer to get on stage, Seongwoo quietly hums a melody under his breath until he hears the sounds of guitar strings resonating through the building. The tune is all too familiar to him and for once Seongwoo looks up from the counter to recognize the man from before on stage.

Nothing from the previous nervousness is seen in the expressions of the singer whose soft voice perfectly fits the song as if it’s the missing puzzle piece; calming, controlled, and full of emotions. Seongwoo is both captivated by the singer’s voice  and the words rolling off his tongue so smoothly, so engraved in Seongwoo’s mind, and as if he’s in trance, the raven-haired boy sings along to the man’s performance.

_Galaxy._

Seongwoo has never thought that he’d see the galaxy in someone else, but in that mere moment, the man on stage is shining so brightly while he’s unfolding in his raw talent. Captivated by the singer’s performance, Seongwoo has his whole attention fixated on the other man and he can’t help admiring his whole existence; fox-eyes sparkling with stars of a soft shimmer, cherry-red lips moving around the syllables falling of his tongue, veins popping out of the man’s long neck from the pressure he’s putting into his voice. Most importantly, it is his voice that has Seongwoo hypnotized, that lets him forget about his work momentarily until silence settles in the bar for a moment; as the man flashes a honest and bright smile to the crowd and bows deeply, cheers and hollers erupt in the bar and the fuss of high-pitched noises thrum in Seongwoo’s ears while blood is rushing quickly to his head, working as a silencer.

“Excuse me?” It’s a new customer that brings Seongwoo back to reality and breaks the trance that the performer on stage has put him in strangely. “One beer please.”

Nodding his head to indicate that he has understood the order, Seongwoo quickly pops open a Heineken beer, handing over the bottle to the smaller man leaning against the counter and receiving a smile so sweet in return that Seongwoo _almost_ forgets to charge the stranger for the money. While the customer is picking out the money from his wallet, Seongwoo gets a good look at him: small and petite with an innocent vibe, that’s what Seongwoo’s getting from the handsome man cladded in a grey oversized cardigan, white v-neck shirt and ripped skinny jeans -- all in one, he’s exactly Seongwoo’s style and the perfect replacement for stranger boy slash the mysterious singer.

At the thought of the one who has managed to gain Seongwoo’s attention so quickly, the latter looks up to the stage again only to be greeted with the sight of some woman getting ready for her performance. Heaving a sigh of disappointment, Seongwoo diverts his focus back on the man handing him the cash and a nice tip, for which he thanks him heartfully.

“Thanks for showing such interest in my friend!”

Smiling with sincerity showing on his face, the man throws Seongwoo out of the concept with one single comment, but he’s quick to catch himself just before the other can run through his fingers like someone else did.

“Who are you?” It may have come across a bit too curious, but Seongwoo plays it off by taking another order and mixing a cocktail while waiting for the man’s answer. Luckily for him, the other seems to take it easy, and stays around just a bit longer to answer the question. “I’m Jonghyun, a good friend of the first performer. The one who sang _Galaxy_.”

Letting his mouth shape into a quiet ‘o’, Seongwoo doesn’t know how to go on further, or _why_ exactly he has been so interested out of the blue. Jonghyun stays patient with the bartender albeit there’s an amused glint in his eyes, nothing of a derisive nature, but merely a light-hearted mischievousness; it flares up Seongwoo’s slumbering feelings of anxiety while at the same time he gets the feeling that Jonghyun would wait all evening and then some for Seongwoo to end the conversation the way he intended without an ounce of judgement.

The gears in Seongwoo’s mind are working on full speed to save him from further embarrassment even though he doesn’t understand himself why his whole being is swallowed up by shame -- at times, his mind is working in complex ways beyond his understanding. All he’s aware of is the burning flush on his cheeks and his most probably dumb expression caused by a deep frown, but Jonghyun seems to have enough sense of tact to not comment on it.

“Uhh,” Seongwoo suddenly blurts out unintelligently, causing Jonghyun to tilt his head to the side with a small cheeky smile on his lips. “Tell your friend that his voice is good. Really. He’s got some talent.”

With a _will do_ and a stunning eye smile which blinds Seongwoo due to the bright intensity of it, Jonghyun retreats and walks prompt to the back of the bar and out of Seongwoo’s sight. If Jonghyun is a friend of the mysterious singer it can only mean that he’s joining him again, which further means that Seongwoo might not see them so soon again, or maybe not at all anymore tonight.

It’s a shame, honestly. What’s even more so a shame is that Seongwoo is still kept in the dark about the singer’s name; he has the friend’s name, but Seongwoo can’t do anything with it if he doesn’t know Jonghyun’s surname. No social networks stalking for Seongwoo, no way he’ll ever come across the mysterious singer again.

At least stranger boy has managed to make the open mic session more than just a background noise for Seongwoo at least once in his career as a bartender.

Just a fine reminder, that’s all he is for Seongwoo. The painful twist of his heart at the thought of the beautiful man is just a cause of Seongwoo’s lack of sleep and piled up frustration, mostly sexual frustration.

It’s nothing more to worry about, he shouldn’t dwell over a memory that won’t ever repeat itself again.

 

***

 

Seongwoo sees the singer with no name up on the stage the following Friday night, and then the next following week as well.

He does however never get to talk with the man, which is slowly starting to annoy Seongwoo. There’s no good reasons behind it, he only knows that it’s bugging him to keep on calling the singer ‘stranger boy’ in his head. Or in his conversations.

It’s not as if he’s mentioning the singer from the bar often; here and there, he slips a compliment or an observation into his talks with Daniel mostly. For example the fact that he has performed another one of Seongwoo’s favorite ballads, or that he has become more confident during the open mic sessions, or that he has worn jeans so tight tonight that they hugged his firm thighs so perfectly. Seongwoo hasn’t been _purposely_ staring at his long legs, his eyes just so happened to have trailed down to the man’s thighs unconsciously. (Daniel only laughs at the remark sporadically, but fuck it, Seongwoo isn’t obliged to defend himself.)

By the fourth Friday night in a row, Seongwoo decides that he’s had enough of being kept in the dark.

During a short break, he visits Jisung in their small staff room, who’s responsible for the open mic sessions before he helps Seongwoo out later on at the bar counter; surprised by Seongwoo’s unusual appearance, Jisung even as far as goes to shoo the younger man away, complaining that his shift hasn’t begun yet, which means he can still sit around in the back and let his old body rest.

“Relax, I’m here for something else,” Seongwoo says with a playful mocking tone in his voice, the corner of his lips twitching in amusement. “I just need the setlist from today’s open mic session.”

In return for his even more unusual request Seongwoo earns himself a half confused half judging look from Jisung, who isn’t moving from his spot at all. “I thought you hated the open mic session?”

Shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly, Seongwoo feigned disinterest, his face schooling into a neutral expression which shouldn’t be easy to interpret in order to get to the roots of Seongwoo’s real feelings. Jisung however knows him too well and suspects that someone must have caught Seongwoo’s attention, but he doesn’t push the matter for now and instead hands over the setlist wordlessly.

A bit too eagerly, Seongwoo scans the programm for the fourth participant of the night, mouthing the words _Hwang Minhyun_ unconsciously once his eyes have found the right name _._ It doesn’t fly past Jisung’s head who has been eyeing Seongwoo with a curious gaze but instead of running his mouth as usual, Jisung crosses his arms in front of his chest while wagging a finger at him.

“Don’t you dare doing anything during your shifts!” Jisung warns Seongwoo with an accusing tone, but the latter only blinks confusedly at him until it dawns upon him a few moments later. “It’s not what you think, Jisung.”

Silence settles between them until Jisung laughs at Seongwoo’s defending remark, shaking his head unbelievingly. “Daniel has told me other things.”

 _Of fucking course_. Seongwoo can’t even appreciate someone’s vocals and singing ability without raising suspicions apparently; from now on Daniel’s going to taste his own medicine whenever he’s showing Seongwoo a video of some choreographer or some dance team, because that totally means he’s crushing on them. He however doesn’t crush on Minhyun, no way.

All Seongwoo does is to make observations and comment on them, mostly about the singer’s performances. It’s only the icing on the cake that Minhyun is a really handsome man, but everyone could admit that after having seen him. There’s nothing wrong on feasting his eyes on someone attractive, but by all means, it doesn’t indicate that Seongwoo has a crush on Minhyun. _Hell_ , he doesn’t even know him. If Seongwoo really has been interested in the singer, he’d have taken matters into his hands way earlier and not after four weeks.

Either way, he’s not going to discuss the issue with Jisung, work is waiting for him anyway. Thanking the older man for providing the setlist, Seongwoo’s soon back behind the counter again and lets his gaze wander through the huge room. There’s no particular reason behind it, so why does he feel disappointed about not finding the tall man with fox-like eyes and a voice to melt for in the crowd?

It must be his mind playing tricks on him after his short talk with Jisung. There can’t be another reason for it.

(His heart says otherwise.)

 

***

 

After a long and tiring shift, Seongwoo wants nothing more than to dive straight into bed and sleep through half of the first weekend day.

His mind’s feeling fuzzy, his body is aching, and he can barely step a foot after the other as he drags himself back to his apartment.

Daniel on the other hand is way too cheerful for that time of the day, hell, it’s barely 5am and he’s still talking and talking about his adventures of the night. Most of it isn’t even directed at Seongwoo -- at some point, Daniel giggles amusedly to himself as he remembers some kids trying to sneak into the bar by putting on heavy makeup and wearing killer high-heels, showing some badly faked IDs, and Daniel pats himself mentally on his shoulder for handling the situation by threatening in a mischievous way to call their worried parents. Instead of telling Seongwoo the story, Daniel compliments himself and obviously talks to himself under his breath, loud enough though for the raven-haired man to get the important snippets of it.

The moment Daniel mentions Jisung about some other topic, a switch is being used in Seongwoo’s brain, who’s widely awake from one moment to the other.

“What _exactly_ did you tell Jisung about Minhyun?”

Being thrown out of his concept by Seongwoo’s sudden accusing question, Daniel merely looks at his best friend with his mouth agape in a dumb way, before he has the audacity to _laugh_ right into Seongwoo’s face. At the uncalled for action, Seongwoo’s stare darkens and bores right through Daniel, who starts to slowly become smaller as he catches on the other male’s unamusement.

“Minhyun? Who- _oh_ , do you mean your lover boy?” Daniel asks with a smug grin, still not showing any signs of remorse. _Fucker_.

As if Daniel has seen right through Seongwoo, he corrects himself and changes the nickname to _stranger boy_ , but it’s very clear to the older man that his friend isn’t even apologetic about his “slip-up” at all. By all means, it only adds up or else Jisung wouldn’t have thought of Minhyun as Seongwoo’s ‘crush’.

“Seongwoo, don’t give me that look,” perking up his eyebrow at the remark, Seongwoo changes his expression into an inquiring one, but Daniel isn’t having any of it. “You have seen your _stranger boy_ like what, four times only? Yet you won’t stop talking about him.”

“I do _not_ talk about him all the time!” Seongwoo grits through his teeth and the bright smile that is plastered across Daniel’s face gives way for a pounding headache at fucking five in the morning. In his hazy state, Seongwoo doesn’t think about _why_ he’s being so defensive, he rather goes with his impulses and lets his composed facade fall.

He expects Daniel to tease him further, but instead his friend lists up the seemingly endless amounts of comments Seongwoo has made about Minhyun; starting from Minhyun’s soft voice, whether it’s his speaking or singing voice, to Seongwoo’s thirsty remarks about Minhyun’s looks (it’s still not Seongwoo’s fault that the other man has thighs to die for), to the quirks he has noticed about Minhyun and lastly even mentioning his friend Jonghyun, always wondering if he should look him up on social medias to find out more about Minhyun (Seongwoo argues that it was just a joke, but who is he even fooling, really?).

For once, Seongwoo listens quietly without complaining (except for the end), and lets the words seep in slowly. Okay, maybe there’s a bit of truth behind what Daniel suggests: over the past few weeks, Seongwoo has been obsessing over Minhyun after every Friday night and maybe on some other occasions as well. Maybe he puts Minhyun into a good light a bit too much and maybe, just maybe, he praises the other man in every way possible.

Maybe, or rather definitely, it resembles someone who’s crushing on another person;  suddenly, it all makes sense to Seongwoo.

The waves of disappointment that are crushing in on him whenever he doesn’t see Minhyun, the stars in his eyes shining bright whenever he’s watching Minhyun perform. The warm feeling that spreads in his chest at the sound of Minhyun’s gentle voice. How no one has caught Seongwoo’s attention ever since Minhyun has started visiting the bar to perform (sans Jonghyun, which was an one time thing anyway in the spur of the moment).

Seongwoo has to admit to himself that he’s crushing on Minhyun, who seems to be so near yet can’t ever be reached.

It only takes one fateful second encounter to change the course of his hopeless burning love.

The falling star that lights up in the sky for a split second as Seongwoo utters his wish and comes to peace with what his heart desires may have been the universe’s answer.

**Author's Note:**

> the first chapter is more focused on ong, but it'll change with the next chapter!
> 
> as always, i appreciate feedback in the comments, and you all can find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/mvpdanik) and [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/mvpchani)


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